Gwen Foster
Gwen Foster (* 1903 ; † 1954 ), also Gwyn Foster , was an American old-time musician . Despite his lack of awareness, Foster is regarded as one of the most virtuoso harmonica players in the folk field. He recorded his most famous works with guitarist and banjo player Clarence Ashley and with the Carolina Tar Heels . Foster's recordings with David O. Fletcher are less well known .
Life
Gwen Foster played at small parties and events before 1925. He was then living in Dallas , North Carolina , and worked at the nearby Globe Mill, a textile mill between Stanley and Mount Holly in Gaston County . His talent as a musician was discovered in 1925 or 1926 by the guitarist AO Fletcher, who was amazed to find that Foster could, for example, play the guitar and two harmonica at the same time, play the harmonica with his nose or imitate a bird and a train in a deceptively realistic way. Impressed by his skills, Fletcher told his uncle David Flechter, who was also a talented guitarist, about Foster. David Fletcher asked Foster if he wouldn't perform as a duo with him. Foster agreed and under the name Carolina Twins they played together in the area.
Other musicians quickly gathered around Foster and Fletcher, such as AO Fletcher ( ukulele , guitar), Gordon Buford ( fiddle ), Buck Bumgardner ( mandolin ), Fred Foster ( banjo ) and singer Avery Keefer. But unlike most of their contemporaries, the group played modern pop songs such as Lazy River or Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue , despite the typical string band line-up . In 1926, Foster and Fletcher, contrary to their actual repertoire, went on tour with the banjo player Doc Walsh through the southeastern United States. Although Foster and Fletcher even enjoyed a jam session with star Riley Puckett , they ultimately couldn't warm themselves to traditional old-time music forever. Therefore, Walsh was separated again after 1927, after Foster had played harmonica on some recordings of Walsh's Carolina Tar Heels .
Instead, Foster started his own recording career. With Fletcher he received a contract with Victor Records in 1928 , for which the duo again recorded 18 tracks under the name Carolina Twins . However, A&R manager Ralph Peer insisted on old-time music because he had no understanding of Foster's and Fletcher's hillbilly versions of the pop songs. Railroad songs like Southern Jack and other old tunes like Gal Took My Licker From Me were recorded along with romantic songs like Off the War I'm Going . The duo even yodeled together on some recordings; two years before Fleming and Townsend perfected it as well. Foster also made a couple of solo recordings on one of these sessions. Overall, their records did not sell badly, at times even sales between 5000 and 10,000 copies were achieved.
Foster was also a member of the Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers in the late 1920s and early 1930s . Various band line-ups played under this name, often including Foster, guitarist Clarence Ashley, and fiddler Clarence Greene . In 1930 Foster played with Fletcher in Bristol , Tennessee for some time before the duo made their last recordings for Gennett Records . Then the successful connection broke apart. Foster then moved with Clarence Ashley to Vocalion Records , where the two recorded blues- oriented material ( My Sweet Farm Girl , Bay Rum Blues , Side Line Blues ).
Then Foster was in North Carolina and Virginia on various radio stations to hear. In the late 1930s he played on WRVA in Richmond , Virginia, with the Tobacco Tags , with whom he made his last recordings.
Gwen Foster spent his final years in his hometown of Dallas, where he died listening to the radio in 1954.
Today, Foster is regarded as a virtuoso among professional harmonica players as well as in the folk and old-time music scene. Joe Filisko said of Foster in December 2003: “ I think the player that I studied the hardest trying to imitate it was Gwen Foster, which I think is one of the more original unique harmonica players that ever played. “Foster played the harmonica primarily in the first position. An exception is the recording of Side Line Blues with Clarence Ashley from 1933, on which he plays a harmonica, tuned to E, in B flat. Ashley also confirmed Foster's talent (Ashley's grandson called Foster a "musical genius"); At the same time, Ashley also mentioned Foster's excessive alcohol consumption: “However , he drank too heavily at times. Tom [Clarence "Tom" Ashley] would laugh and tell about sobering him up on cider and moonshine before they went to play. "
Discography
see also: Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers
Foster's recordings with the Carolina Tar Heels , with Clarence Ashley and with Fletcher as Carolina Twins can be found in the respective articles.
| year | title | # | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victor Records | |||
| 1927 | Black Pine Waltz / Wilkes County Blues | 20934 | |
| Bluebird Records | |||
| 1939 | How Many Biscuits Can I Eat? / Side Line Blues | B-8082 | |
| Unpublished titles | |||
| 1931 |
|
ARC Records | with the Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers |
literature
- Tony Russell: Country Music Records: A Discography 1922-1942. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-513989-5 , pp. 353/111.
- Tony Russell: Country Music Originals. Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-532509-6 , pp. 111 f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joe Filisko: Back to the Roots. 2003.
- ↑ Clarence Ashley website ( memento of the original from June 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Foster, Gwen |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Foster, Gwyn |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American old-time musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1903 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1954 |
| Place of death | Dallas, North Carolina |